My Top 5 learning from the year 2017! #NeverStopLearning

It marks the beginning of 2018 and the end of 2017. I thought it will be great to do a reflection on lessons that I learned from the year 2017. I hope to learn from you too. Please comment on what is your most significant learning from 2017 below. Alright, here is my top five learning from the year 2017.

1. Pause and listen more.

Practice the pause with a deep breath and listen. Learn to practice empathy by putting yourself in the other person shoe. I believe it is ok to step back from a discussion, especially when the situation is intense. Look back and reflect. Open things up with questions. “What am I trying to achieve?”, “What is the right thing to say?” or “What is the right thing to do?”. The other most important element is to know your audience. The way you talk to your mother is different compared to the way you talk to your friends. The way you talk to your wife is different compared to the way you talk to your colleagues. Pause and listen by asking questions to open up the situation which will lead to the solution.

My favourite moment is being married to my best friend.

Lori Deschene describes it very well, Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly, and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.

2. Stick to the plan and be flexible.

I learned significantly when I was preparing for my wedding, honeymoon trip and also in the gym. It is important to stick to the plan, but it is essential to remain flexible. Let’s focus on my wedding preparation, my wife and I did not hire any wedding planner. We took charge it on our own. We prepared a spreadsheet and list all the items that need to be done. The pre-wedding photoshoot, wedding dress selection, meeting with the hotel reception meeting and the list goes on. It includes action owner and deadline.

Our honeymoon trip at Maldives

The planning part was easy, when comes to execution. That is when the challenge starts to come. There is time things do not go according to plan. For every decision made, there is always a plan B. The goal of the action does not change, but it is just the way it is done change. In other words, you can change your approach but you cannot change your goal.

3. Ideas are worthless without execution.

Ideas are something we can visualize in our mind. It is easy to describe our ideas and putting all the adjective to share how awesome it is. At the end of the days, it means nothing if your ideas do not materialize. It basically does not exist. Most people do not start their idea is because of fear. Fear of failure. Fear of shame. Fear of not making it. Fear will cause you not to grow. Henry Ford stated, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

Guess what, you will not find out until you tried it out. You should execute your idea by starting. Be bold to take the first step. Then, nourishing your idea. Building step by step similar to build a house whereby it begins by setting a foundation. For me, starting MarvinInspire was one of my ideas. I was impressed by people like Eric Thomas and Gary Vee who achieve where they are right now. A successful people that change people’s life. Their key advice is just to start doing something. Right now, I am happy to share my thought and experience through books, fitness journey, Spartan Race and Powerlifting.

Powerlifting Kuching Meet. I was deadlifting 205kg

4. The worst decision is no decision.

They are three types of decision. The first decision is the best decision which is the right decision. Whereby you do something right as it adds value to your and allows you to progress further. The second decision is the wrong decision. It is not the best but there is still progress. The best part of making the wrong decision is it allows you to learn a deeper lesson. It adds to your experience bank which makes you wiser. Remember, every wrong decision is one step closer to the right decision. Besides, everybody loves a good comeback!

The third one would be no decision. This would be the worse decision ever. It causes by overthinking and it will lead to NO PROGRESS. You will not learn. You will not be wiser. You will not move forward. You will be where you are from the start years back. Do not be afraid to make that jump and decide. Steve Harvey quoted, every successful person has to jump! Go and make your life-changing the decision and be successful.

Finishing my Spartan Race Beast

5. Sacrifices is a necessity to build your hustle.

I have a day job as an engineer in an oil and gas company. In the year 2015, we had an oil price crisis which forces the company to go through a reorganization. Yes, they were people layoff. Some of them are a good friend of mine. It is quite wake up call. Once, your company do not need you, what do you have left that is on your own. You may begin your job hunting journey. However, your job experience is depending on another company. Unless you start your own company and build a business. Right now, I still have my day job. However, the day may come again with enormous uncertainty.

After office hour talk.

I came across a quote, it is during the peacetime that we should be prepared for war. Hence, I started the MarvinInspire journey which focuses on the development of the mind and body. The end game is for me to become a certified fitness trainer or a coach which covers powerlifting and obstacles course racing. My vision is to spend time workout to improve my health and being strong. At the same time, helping people to be healthy. However, it has to begin in the mind. That is why I shared the knowledge from the book I read as well. Winning inside is the secret of winning outside.

Doing MarvinInspire require sacrifice. It is very much your second job. I need to sacrifice my leisure hours, movie nights, drinking session, party and the list goes on and on. I had fewer friends and more true friends. My time with my family and relative is also affected. It is my personal choice. You got 24 hours in a day, you got to learn to utilise it at maximum. I had quite a number of late nights and early morning. I need to invest at least 1 to 2 hours at minimum to do the work every single day. I had invested more hours during the weekend. Sacrifice needs to be done.

What is your hustle that you can make it your own? In other words, building your Intellectual property. Over a period of time, it may be your side income now and later it will be your main income. Keep hustling and be patient.

I hope this post adds value to you. Feel free to share it on your social media and spread the positivity. I would like to end this post with a quote from Thomas Henry Huxley.

Who is Marvin?

I am a husband, engineer, Spartan Racer, powerlifter and a blogger. The purpose of MarvinInspire is to inspire people to embrace the life obstacles. I believe the secret of winning outside, is to first to win inside. It is all about building a positive mindset to overcome the obstacles. Let's inspire people to embrace the obstacles to achieve greatness in life.